Zynga's Shake-Up Is "A Strategic Error That Bites Them In The Butt" Says Analyst

Michael Pachter, the managing director of research for Wedbush Securities, slammed Zynga's decision to strip its chief operating officer John Schappert of his role overseeing game development during an interview with Bloomberg West on Tuesday.

"Pulling a game guy out of the primary responsibility for managing the game effort, and putting a non-game guy, which is Pincus, in charge, I think that's idiotic," Pachter said in the interview. He went on to argue that the company is mistakenly penalizing Schappert for something that's not his fault.

"The newer games are doing really quite well and it's really that the growth of the new stuff isn't offsetting the decline in the old stuff," Pachter said. "So I'm not sure how that's Schappert's responsibility or fault, and I think this is probably ultimately going to be a strategic error that bites them in the butt."